Reply To: Miscellaneous Electric Tips

Dr. Pepper-

Thanks for the explanation – I thought you meant a single kid held one electrode in each hand.

My misunderstanding may have been based on a personal experience with human body conductivity:

As is sometimes done when checking for a live wire using a neon tester, I touched one of the tester’s probes to the wire and held the other with my hand to see if the tester glowed. It was a warm day, and I leaned my forehead against my metal ladder (yes, real electricians will use fiberglass ladders). To my surprise I felt a tingle in my forehead – due to perspiration on the warm day, my forehead completed the circuit, and a (fortunately very low amperage) current was entering my hand, traveling thru me, and exiting via my head.

I never had that happen before, but ever since then I make sure that I’m not well grounded when holding the other end of a live neon tester.

This inspired my brilliant idea for toilet-training pants – a small battery implanted within the pants, which when doused with an acidic liquid would complete a circuit, thereby delivering a mild jolt to the trainee.

For some reason, P&G wasn’t interested in my idea (they’re probably just jealous that I thought of it first).

My family was so impressed with my ingenuity that they honor me by no longer asking me to change diapers. ?

(Of course the above is NOT serious – not that I think anyone would take it seriously, but hey – you never know.)